Members

Don Bradman Cricket 14

Released in April 2014 for PS3 and Xbox 360 and June 2014 on Steam for Windows PCs

Player endorsements are a big thing in cricket games – Allan Border, Brian Lara, Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting are just some of the players who have put their names to cricket games in the past – all greats of the game and all doing their bit to sell copies of games, but no one really worried about destroying Shane Warne’s reputation with a cricket game. Don Bradman – that’s different. The Don comes with a weight of history, a legendary status in the cricketing world and a name that defines cricket perfection. Putting that on a cricket game takes a lot of confidence, and developer Big Ant Studios think they have the game to live up to the biggest of names.

The game officially released on April 3rd on PS3 and Xbox 360 and released on the 26th of June on Steam for Windows.

To make the game the revolution it needs to be to match up with the name, it has a long list of firsts and total changes from the past – becoming the first cricket game with a full career mode, a built in player creator and the first with the ability to save games in progress online – finally making it viable to play a test match online in a cricket game. There is also innovation in control schemes, with batting and bowling all totally different from previous titles, all adding up to the impression that Big Ant may succeed at the finer points that previous titles have failed at.

The Sydney Cricket Ground and Bradman Oval are the two licensed stadiums in the game with a further eleven unlicensed grounds included from around the world.

While there isn’t a full demo, on the PC you can practice batting in the nets of the Cricket Academy Beta. As well as being able to bat in the nets, you can also create players, tours, tournaments and unique match types, showing off some of the huge flexibility included in the game. Players created in the editor are able to be shared, including across platforms. The career mode will allow you to take your created player through a 20 year career, go on tour and earn your way into the national team or get contracts from clubs in T20 tournaments. Other features included in the game are the ‘Big Ant Review System’ implementation of DRS, manual appealing, stats tracking as well as stamina, fatigue, injuries, form, etc. as factors in player performances.

With the game now out, user created videos are now widely available – this forum thread lists just some of the ones available on YouTube. Pre-release screenshots of the game are available below. Keep an eye out on our dedicated Don Bradman Cricket 14 forum where you will find all the latest news and answers to questions from the developers. You can also visit the official site of this game here or check out their Facebook page.